“Mayne Mentshn marks its creator, Carolyn Dorfman, as an epic storyteller.” -The Daily Record

Carolyn Dorfman created Mayne Mentshn as a tribute to her family, from her nuclear and extended family, to the human race at large. It is about a spirit and passion for life, people and truth. It is about life, death, survival and renewal.

Mayne Mentshn (My People), is a work that resonates from the very depths of Dorfman’s soul. Although she feels connected to every dance that she creates, never before has a work connected every facet of her being. With mind, body, spirit, both past and present, the creation of Mayne Mentshn was an inevitability for Dorfman, as she connected the past and present to define her path towards the future.

As a child of Holocaust survivors, Dorfman spent 18 years creating work that explored the pain of that experience for her parents, family and Dorfman herself. What she came to realize is that to fully understand the profoundness of pain and loss, one must experience and celebrate the life that was interrupted.

Sifting carefully through the rubble, she discovered a rich legacy and a story that had to be told. If not, the pain would remain and the lives and memories lost forever. In Mayne Mentshn, including The Klezmer Sketch and The American Dream, she finally acknowledged all of the strengths, trials, and more importantly, humor and joy that have sustained her family. Thus the title: Mayne Mentshn, ‘My People’.

Dancers: 8
Running Time: 90 mins. (Mayne Mentshn is a full evening work.)